COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Jun 15, 2010 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) -- Summary: Dr. Lisa N. Drakeman retires from her position as Chief Executive and as member of the board of directors of Genmab.

Genmab A/S (Copenhagen:GEN) announced today that its co-founder, Lisa N. Drakeman, Ph.D. retires from her position as Chief Executive Officer of and as member of the board of directors of Genmab.

Under her leadership, Genmab raised over USD 1 billion in capital, completed the largest initial public offering of any biotech company in Europe, received the annual James D. Watson Helix Award as the best international biotechnology company in 2005 and was named as the Biotechnology Company of the Year in 2007, formed alliances with a number of leading pharmaceutical companies, and received regulatory approval in the United States and Europe for Arzerra(R), a new treatment for patients with fludarabine and alemtuzumab refractory CLL.

The Chief Executive Officer position at Genmab will be filled by Prof. Jan G.J. van de Winkel, Ph.D., the company's former President, Research and Development and Chief Scientific Officer, effective as of today. Dr. van de Winkel has over 20 years of experience in the therapeutic antibody field and served as Scientific Director and Vice President of Medarex Europe prior to co-founding Genmab.

"Lisa's vision and leadership built Genmab into a leading biotechnology company. We are grateful to Lisa for her many accomplishments and for her many years of hard work and dedicated service to the company. We wish her a happy and relaxing retirement," said Michael Widmer, Ph.D., Chairman of the board of directors.

Conference Call

Genmab will hold a conference call to discuss today's news on June 16, 2010 at

4:00 PM CEST

3:00 PM BST

10:00 AM EST

The conference call will be held in English.

The dial-in numbers will be published on Genmab's website tomorrow on June 16, 2010.

To listen to a live webcast of the call please visit www.genmab.com.

About Genmab A/S

Genmab is a leading international biotechnology company focused on developing fully human antibody therapeutics for the potential treatment of cancer. Genmab's world class discovery and development teams are using cutting-edge technology to create and develop products to address unmet medical needs. Our primary goal is to improve the lives of patients who are in urgent need of new treatment options. For more information on Genmab's products and technology, visit www.genmab.com.

This Stock Exchange Release contains forward looking statements. The words "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "intend" and "plan" and similar expressions identify forward looking statements. Actual results or performance may differ materially from any future results or performance expressed or implied by such statements. The important factors that could cause our actual results or performance to differ materially include, among others, risks associated with product discovery and development, uncertainties related to the outcome and conduct of clinical trials including unforeseen safety issues, uncertainties related to product manufacturing, the lack of market acceptance of our products, our inability to manage growth, the competitive environment in relation to our business area and markets, our inability to attract and retain suitably qualified personnel, the unenforceability or lack of protection of our patents and proprietary rights, our relationships with affiliated entities, changes and developments in technology which may render our products obsolete, and other factors. For a further discussion of these risks, please refer to the section "Risk Management" in Genmab's Annual Report, which is available on www.genmab.com. Genmab does not undertake any obligation to update or revise forward looking statements in this Stock Exchange Release nor to confirm such statements in relation to actual results, unless required by law.